Christmas Present
by Sailorpipn
Summary: It's Christmas Time in the Kirk?McCoy household and a misunderstanding leads to one of the best presents ever!  Some minor swearing and lots of fluff!


Title: Christmas Present  
Fandom: Star Trek XI  
Pairing: JimxBones  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: Approx. 3,200  
Warnings: some minor swearing and lots of fluff  
Summary: It's Christmas time in the Kirk/McCoy household and someone is about to get the best gift ever!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or it characters. This is a work of fiction, and I make no profit from it.

I know it's a little early for a Christmas fic but this bunny bit me and I worked on this during the Word Wars tonight.

I would really like a beta for this, just to look it over. I'm not the best with tenses but I'm gonna post it now and figure I can edit it some more later. So if you're interested please comment or message me. :)

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"Father, how come Daddy won't be here for Christmas?" Bones looked down at his son with a frown. Aside from his unease about attempting to answer the question before him, Leonard had always been put out by his child calling him Father. Why couldn't Alec call him Dad or Pop or anything other than _Father_. But he's been Father since Alec could talk and now at 8, there was no way it was ever going to change.

"Your Daddy would be here if he could, you know that."

"But you and he fought before he left. Did he leave because of that?" Damn kids and their ability to ask the hard questions. Bone's frown deepened.

"Alec I promise, our fight had nothing to do with why he left. He got orders from the fleet that he couldn't ignore." Of course their fight hadn't helped anything but neither had Jim's make out session with some random woman at a bar when he had a family to come home to.

Leonard still couldn't believe his family was being torn apart. He and Jim had been together for almost ten years! Ten years he'd been faithful and Jim had been the same. He'd never strayed. Sure he flirted with just about anything that moved but that was Jim's default. He'd learned early on to use his baby blues to get ahead in the world and after all that time it wasn't something he could just shut off. But Leonard had always trusted his partner to be true to him, the life they had created and nurtured.

It was well into the third year of their five year mission when they realized how much they really meant to each other. And there was just no going back after that. They complimented each other in ways Bones hadn't imagined. There was the superficial ways like how Leonard was an early riser but you had to drag Jim from the bed on days when he didn't have to be on the bridge or at the Academy. There was also how Leonard was neat and Jim was like a tornado has gone through their room. Bone's still felt for Jim's yeoman who had to deal with his cluttered office at the Academy where they both currently worked. And there were also more subtle ways, like how Jim would always make sure there was plenty of coffee stocked in their cabinets even though he rarely drank it. He'd consumed his fair share when he captained the Enterprise but in this half ass retirement they found themselves in Jim rarely touched the stuff. And there was how Leonard got used to using the air conditioner well into November and then turning it back on early March because Jim ran hot. So long as the ac was on Leonard had a chance at cuddling with his partner but the rest of the time he didn't stand a snowballs chance in hell and they both slept on separate ends of the bed, never meeting. And then there was how no matter how many times Leonard harped at Jim to eat more vegetables you could never find them on his plate. Really it was a bad habit to set for their son but Leonard always piled extra on his plate knowing that Jim would eat half. He still wasn't sure what the logic was behind it but so long as Jim was getting his vitamins, that's what mattered. And lucky for them both Alec wasn't a picky eater.

They had adopted Alec around the time he turned one. They'd been back on planet for a few months waiting out 'fleet for new orders when they had happened upon him, quite literally. They were leaving some restaurant when they heard a cry from the alley next door. Jim quick to help anyone in need went running down the ally until the noise could be determined. Then behind some discarded boxes had been a baby. Leonard still flushed in anger at the memory. He'd never understand how someone could just discard their child with the trash. Together they had taken Alec to the hospital Bones was volunteering at and Child Services had come in. While they had no idea how long he'd been in the ally, Alec had no signs of mistreatment or malnourishment. Initially Leonard and Jim had signed on to take the baby in until he could be placed with a family or they could find his parents. After all they were both ready to go back into space, not start a family. But after just a couple days things changed and now Leonard couldn't imagine his life without the boy the baby had grown into.

They weren't sure of how old Alec really was but they made the day of his adoption his official birthday. He didn't look like either of them with straight jet black hair and brown eyes but the love they had for each other ensured that no stranger didn't think they weren't family, that they didn't belong together.

Truth be told, Leonard couldn't picture his life without Jim either but right now he was still too hurt to think beyond the aching in his chest. Damn Jim and damn Pavel. Damn everything! He wasn't really mad at Chekov, it wasn't fair to shoot the messenger but part of him wished he were still ignorant to Jim's transgression.

It'd been three weeks ago when the majority of the former crew had been on Earth to visit. Nyota, Hikaru, Scotty, and Pavel had somehow managed to get leave at the same time and hadn't wasted anytime in hunting down their former Captain and CMO. Jim had offered them guest rooms in their house but they had each declined instead to stay at a hotel near by. Leonard figured it was because they didn't want to pair off in front of the kid. Alec was used to his dads being affectionate in front of him (sometimes Leonard had to pull Jim off of him even though Alec was in the same room) but it could be awkward for other couples. Nyota and Scotty hadn't gotten together until after they were both placed on the U.S.S. Abraham and Pavel had followed Hikaru when he was promoted to First Officer on the Rensselaer. It was a shame the hobgoblin hadn't been able to join them but Spock was visiting New Vulcan and his Father.

Anyway, Alec had come down with a cold and even though they had lined up a babysitter Bones just couldn't bring himself to leave.

The doctor in him demanded that he take care of the ill and it was extra hard to tear himself away from the little boy who was so dependant on him. So he had insisted that everyone go out without him. Jim had tried to stay too, Alec was his child just as much but Leonard had pushed him out the door. Well that had bitten him in the ass. Often Leonard thought to himself that if Jim had stayed home with him then Jim would be with him now, not gallivanting around the universe. He'll never get the look of Pavel's sad eyes out of his head.

Apparently everything had been great when they first arrived at the club. It was like old times for Jim and his friends, like the shore leaves they used to partake in. But then some attractive woman had gotten Jim's attention and to the shock of the rest of them Jim had gone off with her. Jim and the mysterious brunette had been gone for about half and hour and when suddenly they appeared at the bar having drinks. No one could speculate what they had done behind closed doors and no one wanted to go there anyway. His friends watched Jim order drinks from the bar tender and then toast something that the woman must have found charming by the smile that graced her lips. Well now Leonard's imagination was actively exaggerating the details he'd been given. For another half an hour Pavel and the rest of the team watched Jim out of the corners of their eyes still unsure if they should be worried or not. It wasn't until the woman leaned over and shoved her tongue down Jim's throat that it all really went to hell. Nyota had jumped up before anyone could stop and had stormed over to the bar as fast as her regulation boots could carry her. Pavel told Leonard that she had physically removed the woman from Jim's person before the rest of them had made it to the bar and then they were all heading out the door leaving the woman in their wake.

Jim had sputtered indignantly that they had no right to treat him like this and stormed off before anyone had the chance to interrogate him. Pavel wasn't sure but he said it looked like Jim had gone back into the bar using a side entrance. Leonard still wasn't sure how it had come to fall on Pavel's shoulders to tell him the news but then long before he was expecting them, his friends had been back at the house and Pavel was pulling Bones into the kitchen, sad eyes telling him more than his words.

At first Leonard hadn't wanted to believe it. But what other reason could there be that his friends sat in his living room and his partner was off doing god knows what with god knows who. Once the idea really leached it's way into his brain he'd seen red and poor Pavel had taken a step back in surprise. Then the Russian had fled the kitchen and soon after he heard the front door open, his friends had left.

Trying to stay calm even as his blood boiled in his veins, Bones had gone back into the living room and waited for Jim to come back. He considered himself lucky that Alec had fallen asleep after some taking some cough medicine. He wasn't sure he'd be able to take care of his son when he was emotionally compromised.

It was well after three in the morning when Jim sauntered into their house, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. It had vanished the second his eyes landed on Bones. Leonard glared at Jim unsure of what to say. After a moment of silence he got up, went into his bedroom and grabbed a pillow and blanket off the bed. Moving back into the living room, he threw them at Jim who caught them deftly in his hands.

"If you even think about stepping into _my_ bedroom, I'll hypo you so fast Andorian shingles will look like a blessing." Then he had stormed off while Jim stood still as a rod, his jaw dropped to the floor. Thankfully the slam of his door when Leonard went back into his room didn't wake Alec.

The next few days were hard for everyone. Alec was still sick and had no idea why his parents were suddenly not talking to each other, not even looking at each other. And then a call from Pike had separated them even more as Jim was needed to fill in as Captain on a transport of some dignitaries back to their home planet. Apparently they had asked for Jim specifically as he had been the one to negotiate with them during their five-year mission. It was an honor to be chosen but it couldn't have come at a worse time.

That had been two weeks ago and now it was Christmas Eve and Leonard wasn't sure if his family could ever recover from this. It would kill Alec to have to live with just one of them. Damnit, he'd had enough of this crap when his bitch of an ex wife had taken Joanna. There was no way he was letting Jim take his son.

'Maybe,' Leonard mused, 'I have _Please Break My Heart_ tattooed to my forehead.' He couldn't believe this was happening again. He'd loved Jocelyn and even though they had been drifting apart for while, he'd still been devastated when she'd cheated. And now all those hurt feelings we bubbling to the surface, adding to the betrayal he never thought Jim capable of.

Jim was many things but during their years at the Academy, Leonard had never known him to cheat. "Damnit, why he have to start now?" he grumbled softly so Alec wouldn't hear him.

Even if they could reconcile, Jim was going to miss Christmas. Depending on what he'd had to do once he reached Day'flier VIII Jim might just be getting back onboard the ship to head home now. Two more weeks for these vicious feelings to gnaw at his gut. But Bones knew he had to be strong if not for himself then for Alec.

Alec was sitting on the floor eyeing his presents greedily. Usually the three of them exchanged one present on Christmas Eve and then the rest the next morning but Bones wasn't sure if he should continue the tradition no matter how he felt, without Jim there. He guessed it wouldn't hurt anyone to give Alec one present, or hell all of his presents (the kid sure was spoiled).

Picking the largest box available that was deceptively filled with clothes for the growing boy, he turned to Alec. Just as the boy was tearing into the wrapping paper the doorbell rang. Who the hell would be visiting on Christmas Eve? He headed to the door as he heard a grown from Alec. Bones grinned to himself at him joke.

"Open another one kid," he called as he opened the door.

_Jim._

"Hey Bones," there was a tentative grin on his face. "Could I come in?"

Bones wanted to slam the door in Jim's face but for the sake of their child he moved away from the door to let him in. Curiously he noticed the carrier that Jim clutched in front of him.

"Daddy!" Alec squealed from behind them and then before Leonard could blink Alec was in front of him, trying to wrap his arms around Jim's neck.

"Alec," Jim grin was growing bigger by the second and Bones knew he scowl was doing the same. "Hey Buddy I miss you so much!" Putting the carrier down he gave Alec a warm hug and quick kiss to the forehead that Alec wiped off with a grimace. Jim laughed and Bones felt his heart melt a little at the sound. Jim might be a cheating son of a bitch but he was a good dad. "Alec do me a favor and go open some more of your presents why I talk to your father." Alec didn't need to be told twice and happily ran off in search of new toys. Turning to Leonard he said, "Hey Bones. I really missed you. It wasn't the same being on a starship without you." Jim smiled again but this one didn't reach his eyes. "Could we maybe go talk in the kitchen?" Leonard didn't respond but headed to the other room. Footsteps behind him told him that Jim was following.

Leonard turned in time to see Jim place the carrier on the kitchen table. "What is that?" he questioned irritably. If Jim thought some presents were going to win him back, make him forgive him, well then he didn't know Bones at all.

"Not what Bones, who?" and that's when Leonard noticed the carrier for what it really was. Stepping closer he reached out to open the top; his hand shaking as he peered inside.

"She doesn't have a name yet but I have the paperwork so once we settle on one we can just fill it in and get it notarized. "

Bones couldn't tear himself away at the bright green eyes looking up at him. She was beautiful with strawberry blonde curls and a small mouth, a mouth that was beginning to quiver. Before the baby could start to cry, Leonard quickly lifted her out of the carrier and held her close to his chest. She settled down immediately.

"Look Bones I know you're mad at me but I swear I didn't cheat. I would never cheat on you! Pamdal is Grelician; they seal all deals with a kiss. When Nyota pulled me out of the bar and tried to tear me a new one, well we nearly lost the chance the get her," he gestured to the baby. "Pamdal was a little offended and because I had to go mend fences I didn't have the chance to correct Nyota and the rest of them. And obviously they told you the second they could by the reaction I got when I got home. I wanted to explain everything but-" he paused, gesturing wildly. "She was a surprise… Surprise!" he finished lamely.

For the last three weeks Leonard had been convinced his family was beyond salvation all for… all for… all for the greatest gift he could have received. Looking back into bright green eyes he knew this little girl already had a home in his heart.

Before he could register what his body was doing, Bones crossed the kitchen and kissed Jim as fiercely as he could, trying to cleanse himself of all his negative emotions and just focus on his family. His, not broken, family. A soft cry had them break apart as quickly as the kiss started. Jim reached up and gently caressed Bones' face. "I love you and you're stuck with me as long as you'll have me." Leonard moved his face so that he could kiss Jim's fingertips.

"So what do you think we should call her?" Jim asked after a minute, just basking in the image of his partner holding their new daughter.

"Damnit, Jim I'm a doctor not a big book of baby names."

Jim laughed and tried to take the baby from Leonard's arms. Easily Leonard moved out of his way, quite content to hold her a bit longer. "Well do we think she's a Kirk or a McCoy?" he questioned? He was happy to see no frown or pout in Jim's face as he adjusted the baby in his arms.

"Oh, she's a Kirk all the way," Jim immediately protested. "Besides you already have Alec." There had been a paper work glitch at the hospital that had suited them fine since Alec Kirk didn't have quite the same ring as Alec McCoy.

"Well she does crave attention like a Kirk," Bones muttered when the baby let out a high-pitched squeak to get his attention. He grinned as he looked down at her and rubbed his fingers along her scalp.

Instead of being offended by Bones' comment Jim just smiled. "So we need a name that goes good with Kirk. Well that's just about anything." Leonard rolled his eyes. "What about Elizabeth? Elizabeth Jane?"

"Cheater. You had time to think about it."

Jim smiled again. "Is that a yes?"

Bones grunted a response and Jim crowed happily. "Elizabeth Jane Kirk. Come on lets go introduce her to Alec." Jim wrapped his arm around Bones' waist and led him towards the door. And just like that they moved back into the living room, a new and improved family.

A couple hours later, Bones was watching Jim and Alec lying on the floor playing with some game that Jim had bought. Alec was fighting off yawns and Jim was subtly getting up, ready to whisk the boy off to his room to tuck him in.

Leonard knew there was no way he was ever going to forget this Christmas. In his mind he was already writing a letter to their friends, explaining the misunderstanding and hurt feelings. Maybe this would teach all of them not to jump to conclusions.

And maybe, he thought, looking down at Elizabeth, he could get this one to call him Pop.


End file.
